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HIGH RISE SAFETY INITIATIVE

The New York City Coalition for Accountability Now (NYC CAN) is excited to announce the launch of the “High-rise Safety Initiative,” a new ballot initiative that will amend the New York City Charter to require the NYC Department of Buildings to investigate all high-rise building collapses occurring in New York City on or after September 11, 2001, except the collapse of WTC 1 and 2. The Initiative will apply to the collapse of WTC 7 on September 11, 2001, as well as any high-rise collapse that occurs in the future.

As many of you know, the City of New York blocked NYC CAN’s 2009 ballot initiative from going before the voters and becoming law. Five years later, we are sponsoring a new ballot initiative that has been carefully crafted to withstand any legal challenge the City might bring.

We invite you to read the petition.
The Road to the Ballot

For the proposed charter amendment to appear on the November 4, 2014 ballot, we need to submit 30,000 signatures from registered New York City voters by July 3, 2014, and a second submission of 15,000 signatures by September 5, 2014. To be sure we have enough valid signatures, the High-rise Safety Initiative is aiming to gather 75,000 signatures for the first submission, and 35,000 signatures for the second submission.

After that we may have to face off against the City over the legality of the petition, a battle we are confident of winning. Once the amendment is officially on the ballot, we will launch a full-scale electoral campaign to educate New York City voters about the need for the High-rise Safety Initiative.
Our Success Depends on You

Our ability to gather the signatures, overcome a legal challenge and win the vote on November 4 depends on your generous support.

The petition drive, which will run from May to July 2014, will cost $250,000. The High-rise Safety Initiative is working with a political consulting firm that specializes in field operations to manage the petition drive – which all but ensures that we will successfully gather enough signatures if we meet our fundraising goal. After that, up to $50,000 may be needed for litigation.

Today we are asking you to make a generous donation to help us reach our $250,000 fundraising goal by May 1. With your generous support we will take the first steps toward mandating a new WTC 7 investigation and ensuring that the failure to properly investigate a high-rise collapse is never repeated in New York City.

Please go to HighriseSafetyNYC.org to learn more about the campaign and make your donation today.

We thank you for your commitment to NYC CAN’s efforts over the past five years. Now, with your generous support and lots of hard work, we can require the City of New York to investigate the collapse of WTC 7 and any high-rise collapse that may occur in the future.

About
The High-rise Safety Initiative is a ballot initiative that will require the NYC Department of Buildings to investigate the causes of all high-rise building collapses in New York City.
Learn more: http://highrisesafetynyc.org/about/

Donate
Only with your support can we gather the required number of signatures from NYC voters. Support the High-rise Safety Initiative with a donation today.
Donate now: http://highrisesafetynyc.org/donate/